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The Hairless Meanderings of Edward Lock (10)

It’s the afternoon of the next day and Sally and Kit are walking together after a Sunday shift at Smalling Publishing. Their pace is slow towards town where they catch their respective bus home. Sally is smoking a cigarette and Kit is talking:

“It’s happened so suddenly, I mean this morning I found him asleep in the car. He hasn’t been eating. He barely speaks. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“When did he start acting like a crack?” Sally asks, blowing smoke.

“He shaved his hair on Friday. But we haven’t had sex since Monday,” Kit says, surprised by her own honesty.

“You been trying?”

Kit laughs, “Definitely,” her face falls, “Yes. Definitely.”

“What does Edward say about it? Anything? Any giveaways? There’s usually a giveaway, hon.”

Kit is hesitant, “Well.”

“You can tell me,” Sally says.

“It’s tough to talk about.”

“It’s good to talk, trust me, trust me.”

Kit nods but hesitates, after a long silence she says: “We had a baby but we lost it. He was. He never happened.”

Sally stops walking and hugs her. Kit says nothing.

“I’m sorry,” and Sally’s mind flashes back to the dinner yesterday, “Oh, I’m so sorry. If I had known I -”

“It’s fine. Honestly. We can’t help that you have a baby can we?” Kit asks, looking into Sally’s eyes.

“He says it is, but it doesn’t make sense. Why start now? He has this new project and he’s been running around all week working himself dry. When he is at home he’s exhausted. I don’t know what he’s trying to prove,” Kit says.

“It might be a blip, keep trying.”

“I just hope he’s okay,” says Kit.

“I don’t want to jump in your back-seat but Christian is like that sometimes too. He’ll have a burst when he won’t have anything to do with me. Sometimes he comes home late at night and doesn’t bother coming upstairs. He just sleeps on the sofa. I hear him talking downstairs sometimes and I don’t know who it is. I tell myself ‘It’s the work, it’s the work!’ but I get worried, Kit. Last night he got a call at four in the morning, I don’t know who the hell he was talking to. I pretend to be asleep. What else can I do? Just. Just you look out for these things. It’s tricky to see them if you don’t want to.”